Hello Africa! Nice to see you again!

Well, Africa, here I am! I knew I had arrived when I stepped off the plane and smelled the air...it’s hard to explain to someone who’s never traveled to Africa, but in my opinion, Africa has a smell of muggy, hot, construction, food, and sweat mixed all together. I’m sure my sweaty self was adding to the aroma after traveling for 24 plus hours, but let’s not jump ahead.

So I left Atlanta on Thursday night bound for Dubai. The flight was completely full – mostly Indian expats and American soldiers on their way to Afghanistan. I can usually sleep on long flights (this one took 14 hours), but after they passed out dinner and everyone was getting ready to go to sleep, they realized that they couldn’t dim the lights. At all. They called Atlanta in hopes of finding a “secret button” to press to turn off the lights (direct quote from one of the flight attendants – seriously). Alas, no secret button was found, and I attempted to sleep with the lights on. Fast-forward 14 hours and we land in Dubai. Because of my intricate flight itinerary, the folks in Atlanta weren’t able to check my bags all the way through to Addis Ababa, which meant I had to go through immigration in Dubai. After a couple of questions about what I’m doing in Dubai (trying to get my bags and get on another flight) and how long I’ll be there ( 3 hours sir, and counting), I’m finally able to pass through and get my bags.

Now, imagine me wandering around Dubai’s airport trying to find the Gulf Air ticket counter, with 2 rolling bags, a purse, a book bag and another bag on my shoulder. Moving from one building to another, I finally find the ticket counter and arrive drenched in sweat! It was HOT outside! How I’ll survive in August, I’m not sure, but we’ll think about that later.  I manage to get back to the terminal and wait for my flight to Bahrain. I was surprised to find the majority of the passengers being of Ethiopian descent – and very young. They were all carrying duty-free items from Dubai and my sense was that they travel to Dubai to shop for items they can’t get in Ethiopia. What happened next was very shocking.  While most airlines board by zone or row, Gulf Air only allowed the whites/Arabs/Asians to board first, before allowing anyone who was black to board. I was shocked, but followed the rules when the flight attendant started motioning me to move along.

The flight to Bahrain was about 45 minutes, but they were sure to get a meal in! The girl I sat next to looked at the sandwich with some sort of chicken hummus thing and said “Lebanese food”.  So we had Lebanese food on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Bahrain, with 95% of the passengers being from Ethiopia. That’s culture my friends.

Boarding the flight to Addis Ababa from Bahrain was even less organized than by the color of our skin. It was a free-for-all.  Women were boarding the plane and had no idea where they were supposed to sit, so they just sat next to their friends...which caused much frustration for the flight attendants. Speaking of, the flight attendants from Bahrain to Addis could speak English, Thai, Mandarin, Arabic, German, Flemish (really?), and French. I was impressed with their ability to communicate with others on the flight – although this flight was 99.9 percent Ethiopian, and 2 white girls (including myself).  The girls on my row found it hilarious to order “icy whiskey” when dinner came around. When they realized they couldn’t just drink the whiskey, they got a coke and tried to drink it (didn’t drink much of it – I guess they just wanted to see if they could order it).

Once I arrived in Addis, and made it through immigration (which included picture taking and fingerprint sets), I found my bags relatively quickly, but that’s where “Take-charge Nabavi” stopped. My driver wasn’t there. And I didn’t have the phone number of the hotel (it’s brand new). AND I couldn’t get in touch with the 24-hour duty officer at the Embassy. I sat down in the airport and realized that this was the icing on the cake – I make it to Ethiopia by myself and the easiest part (finding a man holding a piece of paper with your name on it) was going to do me in. I waited an hour and a half. Finally I saw someone with a piece of paper that said “Ms. Meena Nabavi - USAID/Ethiopia”.  Relief! I sighed and the man carried my bags out to the car. My room is located near the airport – maybe only 5 minutes away. I met 2 of the other interns (briefly) and came up to my room. Not sure what my first day in Ethiopia will hold, but know that it’s only 8AM and my day is already off to a bang! I’m back in Africa!